http://mmajunkie.comA handful of participants, including recent UFC fighter Akihiro Gono and Blagoy Alexandre Ivanov (who is best known for defeating Fedor Emelianenko in a recent Sambo match) will compete in August at World Victory Road’s Sengoku Ninth Battle event.

The show, expected to air on HDNet in North America, takes place Aug. 2 at the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan.

In addition to Ivanov, who fights Kazuyuki Fujita, Eiji Mitsuoka will also compete on the card.

Opponents have not been named for Gono or Mitsuoka.

Gono (29-14-7), a former Shooto fighter who later joined Pancrase and PRIDE, most recently competed for the UFC, where he went 1-2 over the past two years. After opening the stint with a submission victory over Tamdan McCrory, he took a year off and then suffered decision losses to Dan Hardy and Jon Fitch. Gono, just 2-3 in his past five fights, was released from the UFC following the loss to Fitch in January.

Ivanov (0-0), meanwhile, makes his MMA debut after his highly publicized victory over famed heavyweight Fedor Emelianenko at the Combat Sambo World Championship 2008. He takes on Fujita (15-7), a longtime PRIDE fighters who makes his third appearance for WVR, where he most recently suffered an 84-second knockout loss to Travis Wiuff.

Finally, Mitsuoka (15-6-2) makes his fifth appearance for WVR, where he’s 3-1 with three submission victories. He’s won four of his past five fights and eight of his past 10.

The latest card for Sengoku Ninth Battle, which also features the semifinal and finale of the organization’s featherweight grand prix, now includes: